Monday, September 3, 2012

Back-to-School in England and America!

My Primary School in Cheshire, England.How quaint!

It still feels like summer in
Massachusetts - the sun is shining, the sky is blue and the weather is lovely
and warm. But back to school the kids must go. It always seems to come around
too quickly. My entire elementary (or primary) and secondary education was in
England, but as my kids were born in America my only experience as a parent has
been in the American – Massachusetts, to be precise – school system. As my son
and daughter progress through the system though, I am often left asking
questions about how things work here. I find myself looking back at my own
school years and realize they were different in many ways.

The lovely village where I went toschool. I was even married in that church!

First of all, in England, the
kids go to school for one year longer than in the US. I toddled off to
reception class at age 4, would you believe? Today the pupils then go reception class through to year 13. (Grades K-12 in the US). Things have changed somewhat though from when my generation
was at school in England. We went to primary school until we were 11, then on
to secondary school for first form to fifth form culminating with O’Levels (nationwide
standardized exams) at the end of the fifth year. O’Levels no longer exist. My
nephew informs me that they are now GCSE’s taken at the end of year 11. So
confusing! For those taking A’Levels we then went to the lower 6th
and upper 6th. This is now year 12 and 13. For A’Levels we had
reduced our course load down to three classes (French, German and economics for
me!) I have to say that I like the fact that in the American system, the
students don’t have to narrow down their subjects as soon as we did in England.
Until recently English students could leave school after O’Levels and go out into the
world aged 16! In 2008, a new law, that will take effect in 2015, was
introduced in England stating all students must stay in some form of education
or training until they are 18.

The Harry Potter gang in Uniform.

As my kids prepare for the
first day of school, my 6th grade daughter is faced with the big
decision of what to wear on this first day! Denim skirt, shorts, maybe the red
capris? And which top will go with that, oh my! But for the majority of British
school-goers, back in my day and today, that stress was eliminated by school
uniform. Looking back I don’t think I minded the uniform. It was easy, navy
blue skirt (length varying according the the style of the given year), white
shirt and navy blue, v-neck sweater, even a tie in the early years. We also had a purple blazer with gold
trim, which we avioded wearing as the aubergine color was not too flattering!
My kids are always fascinated by all the children in England pouring out of
schools at the end of the day dressed the same, like a pool of blue ink (many
of the uniforms seem to be blue). With the advent of "Harry Potter" many US children think uniforms are quite cool now too. If we ever attend a school event here while
my mother is visiting, she always laments the lack of uniform. “They would look
so much smarter with uniforms on,” she says.

When my son started
kindergarten, I was shocked at the length of the summer holiday. Eleven weeks! I know family and friends in England find the idea of such a long summer shocking! But after 9 years of those lovely, long summers I am very used to it. Like
everyone else, I lament the end of the summer. Maybe it’s because the weather
is usually better here, or just that feeling that we can all really switch off
from school and activities for a good length of time. Although there are times I wish there were more breaks during the year like in England with their 3 terms,
each with a week of half term holiday. Most towns have 2 weeks around Christmas
and again around Easter, but only about 6 weeks in the summer.

There are some traditions that
are part of the America school system though that I wish we had had when I was
at school. I have some photos from school, and the annual class picture, but I
love seeing the yearbooks from my American friends. Now in the age of Facebook
I have caught up with some friends from high school, but it would be great to
have that official record of those high school years.

American High School Graduation.

And what about prom and graduation?
It still amazes me how huge graduation is here with the caps, gowns, big
ceremony and lots of parties. Parties we did have, but nothing as fun and
special as the graduation ceremony. School was basically done with your last
A’Level, and that was it except for the excruciating wait for the results until
August. And only then did we know if we had made it into our college of choice
if our results were good enough! Quite stressfull actually. In America by the
time the kids finish the senior year they know exactly where they will be
heading in September. We Brits had about two and half nail-biting months of
wondering if we would be replanning our whole future come results day!

A Nerve-Wracking Day.

At the
end of the summer all your friends go their separate ways, but the lucky
Americans have all their milestone reunions to look forward to in the future. I
think I have had one kind of semi-reunion, organized one Christmas break by a
friend where we all got together in the pub in our hometown! I know some of my
friends don’t relish the idea of reunions as much as others but it is great to
have the opprtunity to get together with all those folks from high school
again.

Much has changed in the UK
since I left so I can’t even claim to be an authority about the current state
of the school system in England. I do know that my secondary school is now a
housing development! To bad. And as my son enters 10th grade I am
starting to find out about SATs, all the different class options and of course
the dreaded college application process. But that’s a whole other blog entry!

1 comment:

Thanks for a lovely informative post. I'm a Brit in Florida and have only been here for four years. I'm still getting used to the summer holidays. I need to learn now about what the 'honour roll' is and how kids get onto it

Welcome to The Bee’s Knees British Imports blog! We provide the finest quality British-made and designed products. Our eclectic range of products will have a unique style to appeal to our British abroad and anglophile American customers. We aim to attract and maintain our customers by providing first class, reliable customer service. Check out our online store to see our latest fine products!